After Sandy - How's everybody?

[BigDave]

Update - Our power was restored yesterday - Yea!.

I closed the pool dirty on Saturday in preparation for freezing weather. Drained and blew out lines and solar system and covered the ends. Opened the drain plugs on pump and filter and removed the multiport. Drained the pool to below the return, capped the return, put a gizmo in the skimmer, and removed the ladder. I plan to leave the pool uncovered this winter, chlorinate as necessary, and rake out the leaves and sticks when I can. I also plan to move the pump indoors as soon as I can clear a place for it.

Anybody else in Sandy's path still on the forum? Are you OK?

Good luck and be well.

[CarlD]

Sandy was and still is very tough on us. We lost power from Monday to Saturday, it started getting cold, and, because nobody had power, the gas stations were closed. Then some got power and were immediately "drained" with police usually at open stations. Some were running on generators (of course THEY had plenty of gas for their generators! ) One used a portable arc welder as generator! Every generator in the region was snapped up, so were gas cans, every size battery but 9volt, chain saws, drop cords, and, surprisingly 3-prong plugs! Also octane-booster is in short supply as sometimes only regular is being delivered to the stations. Luckily, I had 2 generators: A big one I bought after last year's freak Halloween blizzard and an older 2k suitcase type.

Someone gave me a head-slap simple idea for how to connect my furnace (gas, not electric). Just cut the 110v line going into the red cut off switch, put a 3 prong plug on that, put an outlet box on the other and, and plug the furnace into the generator. When power is restored, just plug it into the outlet. Works great, and the gen has a GFCI breaker on the circuit, so it's protected. But the gas shortage made it dicey. And no internet made communication tough. AT&T and T-Mobile both had intermittent 3G/4G service and what they had was slow so we'd be switching between the 'droids on T-Mo to the iPads on AT&T just to connect.

The gas situation is easing with rationing here in NJ. Match the last digit on your license tag to the date. Odd digits can fill on odd dates, even digits on even dates.

Just as everything was getting back to normal, we got hit yesterday with a nor'easter and it dumped 7" of snow on us. However, it warmed up so quickly that it's melting fast. We JUST had our driveway paved before Sandy so it's super-black and therefore is melting far faster than the old asphalt did, which had whitened over 25 years. By 9:30 the 7" was down to about 2-3". Better still, we never lost power.

Hopefully, by next week we'll be pretty normal again!

[BigDave]

Good to hear from you CarlD.
I managed to find gas and no lines in Lakewood (of all places).
I knew about portable welders (I think I read about it here); I tried to rent one Saturday before the storm but the guy at the counter sneered and asked "You don't think we though of that? They've been gone for days."

[CarlD]

Well, now that it's over, it's going to be easier to buy a generator. Two places up here had a steady supply: One was the Honda dealer and the other was a Kipor dealer. Both brands are very expensive, Honda more so. But some guy loaded up on economy gens from someplace in the mid-west in a semi, and was selling $600 generators for $1500, so there was some of that. Home Depot was getting them as fast as possible but selling out immediatedly. Today, while some stations are closed, I was able to fill my truck and my last empty cans. I've been adding Sta-Bil and an Ethanol neutralizer in them so they can safely sit for 2 years.

But to have 7" just after Sandy? The Governor said: "What's next? Locusts and Pestilence???"

Still, after Hurricane Irene, and last Halloween's blizzard, you'd think people would prepare for Sandy. I did. I filled my cars, my gas cans, my generators, got my drop cords and construction-grade cube taps, tied down my outside furniture, got all the cash I could out of the ATM for several days, even got a new Stihl chain saw to replace the troubled 20 year old McCulloch. Checked flashlights, food, batteries and drinking water. Charged all the cell phones and laptops full. We even started our gas fireplace in advance of a blackout to get it heating up.

Yet I met folks who did NONE of that and got caught short with no power, no heat, no gas, no cell phone charge, no food, and no cash. Wow!

[BigDave]

I came here to celebrate our first post-Sandy swim. After closing a dirty pool last year, I got it opened and cleared the swamp in April. I tried to start the solar early May and found the storm had damaged one of the panels. Got the solar installer out and he plugged a couple tubes and we are back. Some poorly timed weather and other commitments kept us out of the pool until yesterday.
But Yesterday! W00t! (I never say W00t!) After returning from our 90+ degree Cub Scout Camping trip, my son and I had a nice swim in our crystal clear 84 degree pool. Awesome!

Thanks PoolForum!

It's funny CarlD mentioned Locusts in his last post, we're presently suffering a plague of 17-year locusts (cidcadas actually). The husks and dead bugs are everywhere, the sky and trees and bushes are filled with the live ones, and the song is deafening - It sound like a bearing wipe in large equipment - coming from everywhere.
For my pool it means the skimmer basket is always full of cicadas - bad swimmers.

Now, what pestilence?